1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile device, content distribution system, and content distribution method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method in which, when content that is provided via a network such as the Internet is obtained by using a mobile device such as a cellular phone, the user of the mobile device (subscriber) operates the mobile device to issue a request to a server installed by the content provider to distribute content and the accordingly distributed content is monitored, is typical. In recent years, in addition to this typical method, a method that regularly updates content that is pre-selected by the user even when the user does not operate the mobile device has also been considered. This method involves a request to transmit content being issued from the mobile device of the user to the server (depending on the case, a plurality of servers) of the content provider at a predetermined time interval.
Further, in a network that is constructed through integration of a plurality of computers, procedures such as poling are known as processing in which one host computer confirms a request to transmit data to a plurality of terminal computers (see Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2000-201156, for example).
In the technology above, even in cases where a content provider wishes to transmit urgent content to users, for example, the server is unable to transmit content unless the users themselves request transmission to the server by operating their mobile devices until a predetermined time interval (that is, poling cycle) has elapsed.